On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:55:53 -0700, Spheric wrote:

> Ugh. I forgot my root password. I've tried escaping from Lilo and entering
> linux /s, linux single and linux 1. Each of these simply brings up the GUI,
> it doesn't boot into single user mode.
>
> I next tried excaping from Lilo and booting linux init=/bin/bash, but when I
> ran passwd it told me "Authentication token lock busy".
>
> Help?

Assuming you set up 'sudo' which you should have done, then you can do
'sudo passwd' to reset root password. Otherwise, boot a Live CD, chroot to
the root partition and do passwd.

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:55:53 -0700, Spheric wrote:
> Ugh. I forgot my root password. I've tried escaping from Lilo and entering
> linux /s, linux single and linux 1. Each of these simply brings up the GUI,
> it doesn't boot into single user mode.

I would try booting cd 1 in the rescue mode, mounting your / partition
chroot /where/you/mounted_root
passwd root
new_pw_here
new_pw_here
shutdown -r now
exit

Spheric wrote:

> Ugh. I forgot my root password. I've tried escaping from Lilo and entering
> linux /s, linux single and linux 1. Each of these simply brings up the
> GUI, it doesn't boot into single user mode.

Strange, "linux 1" works for me. When you hit do you see a
bare text only screen with a list of names from lilo.conf? Does that
list include "linux"? No strange capitalization, or extra spaces?

> I next tried excaping from Lilo and booting linux init=/bin/bash, but when
> I ran passwd it told me "Authentication token lock busy".
>
> Help?

Try booting from a live CD like Knoppix or Move, then you can remove
root's password. I *think* the standard procedure is to delete the
second field in /etc/shadow. Others might have better ideas.

Of course, if you have a high security installation then just give
up, backup, and reinstall.


--
sig goes here...
Peter D.

Quoth Peter D. :

> Spheric wrote:
>
>> Ugh. I forgot my root password.



> Of course, if you have a high security installation then just give
> up, backup, and reinstall.

Good point. And it might even be the most time-efficient.

For me, even though it's nice to know how to do admin chores properly, I
tend to approach things like this (actually I haven't yet forgotten a
password!) on a "least resistance" basis.

I have my initial package install list saved. I have my admin journal (Bit
Twister needn't tell _me_ the same thing twice!) and important
configurations _already_ backed up. I have /home on it's own partition.
Yada yada... Start to finish this job would take me no more than 30
minutes.

On a personal system, those extra "whatnots" (games and such) which need
re-installing can be taken care of over time on an as needed basis, easing
the trauma.

--
The Man in the Yellow Hat
Linux with a monkey, since 1996.

Spheric wrote:

> Ugh. I forgot my root password. I've tried escaping from Lilo and entering
> linux /s, linux single and linux 1. Each of these simply brings up the
> GUI, it doesn't boot into single user mode.
>
> I next tried excaping from Lilo and booting linux init=/bin/bash, but when
> I ran passwd it told me "Authentication token lock busy".
>
> Help?

BitTwister's procedure worked (as usual). the only thing that threw me was
the root path. when i booted with disk 1 of the install set, went into
rescue and used the rescue-gui option to mount everything, i was able to
chroot to /mnt which was where rescue mounted everything. then using passwd
worked fine.